The Star Wars Thread - May the Force be with us (Spoilers!)

[Bend it like Repka]

Let's face it, apart from the Pod race, the 3 prequel films very pretty average with very little to remember.

[James P]

Let's face it, apart from the Pod race, the 3 prequel films very pretty average with very little to remember.

The pod race was pony too.

Usual Hollywood racing nonsense. The good guy can make up huge ground on the villain after the inevitable early setback but once he’s caught him they are stuck at exactly the same speed.

[Bend it like Repka]

The pod race was pony too.

Usual Hollywood racing nonsense. The good guy can make up huge ground on the villain after the inevitable early setback but once he’s caught him they are stuck at exactly the same speed.

As much as I'm pedantic about realism in films, if you made the pod race realistic it would just be like an F1 race with the Mercedes driving off into the distance from the starting gun.

Even I can accept a little bit of movie suspension of disbelief now and again for the sake of some action!

[WCpete]

Watched it last night because my daughter wanted to see it. Seriously, f*** that movie.

[fjthegrey]

Rogue One

Greatly disliked it the first time I saw it and felt it had been hugely overrated. Whilst I liked it a lot more this second time, it still has some huge flaws (not all of it's own making) and I still don't see it anywhere near the level others have it positioned in the Star Wars catalogue.

Set pieces are all good, plot is consistent, action is enjoyable. Orson Krennic is also an excellent main protagonist. He's one dimensional in a plausible way, driven by his single determination to rise up the ranks in his job and impress those above him.

The problems arise in the fact that the characters are horribly underdeveloped. The pace is way too fast. Frantic momentum, never a quiet moment for anyone to engage on any meaningful level. Just cheap archetypes and cliches that fill in the stereotypical blanks in your mind to create this illusion of depth. The result, at least for me, leaves me caring very little for any of them and, knowing where the story ends up, not caring too much about what actually happens either.

In that regard, my hatred for the storylines in the newest trilogy grows even more vitriolic. These people sacrificed themselves for a cause, as did many in the proceeding trilogy. For nothing. This film is rendered almost completely pointless by the decisions they made in The Force Awakens. The sacrifices were for nothing because the Rebels after apparently giving themselves an open goal to reestablish order and democracy, were ****ing hopeless and let the Empire rise almost unchallenged. So yeah, good work Rogue One, your efforts didn't mean a bloody thing.

I also cannot abide Diego Luna. He's a horrible actor and he's horrible in this.

[fjthegrey]

Solo

First time I'd seen this. Only one on the list not getting a repeat viewing.

I liked it. It's a slightly above average action romp which I think serves as a pretty decent view into the origins of a truly great character. I don't have all that much analysis. A lot of the set pieces are quite outlandish and a bit silly. But the first meet with Chewbacca, loved it. Thought their bonding was genuinely well done and I totally bought that what they went through in this film laid the foundations for their ongoing partnership. Donald Glover was a cracking choice as Lando. Thought the guy who plaid Han was pretty decent as well.

I also think Paul Bettany needs to be given more work. I'd like to see him as a Bond villain in the future. Superb actor. Find him to steal every scene I see him in, not just in this film.

Best two films so far are definitely those not within the overarching Ennealogy.

[fjthegrey]

A New Hope

A difficult film to analyse. The introductory voyage into the galaxy, where we are first exposed to the canonical rules of the game. It strikes me every time just how basic the story is. And how few characters there actually are in it. It always seems like a much denser world because you're viewing it through the eyes of multiple films and spin offs now. But the original did do an excellent job of hinting at the wider world. That's part of almost self referential allegory of the film itself. Luke wants to explore the wider universe, and in the short time we spend with the character we realise we are engaged in that lust for adventure and exploration ourselves.

There really isn't much to dissect. It's fun, the actors do a good job with their fundamentally archetyped characters, the action is dated but it's still passable and the whole thing just leaves you wanting more.

On reflection it's absolutely brilliant. Much, much more than the sum of it's parts and it's the irremovable foundation of everything that proceeds. Without it being as solid and great as it is, nothing else would have followed as it did.

[fjthegrey]

Empire Strikes Back.

So far and away the best of the films so far that you wonder what the hell they did wrong with the prequels. They had a perfectly good blueprint for how to pace and structure a Star Wars film and they completely ignored it. It really is the pace that sets this one apart as well. Yes it's darker and the plot gains new depth, but the pace is where it elevates itself. From brilliantly intense action such as the battle on Hoth to much more balanced scenes like those on Dagobah. It wasn't frantic, it wasn't exhausting, it ebbed and flowed perfectly.

Again, there isn't much need to analyse this film. It's the most respected of the Star Wars films and it totally deserves that accolade. The only film that outside of the Star Wars framework would hold up in isolation as a truly quality movie.

[fjthegrey]

Return of the Jedi.

This film is the one I remember most vividly from childhood. The opening segment where Solo is rescued is my most memorable of any in the entire series of films. I loved it as a kid and I enjoy it every time as an adult. But everything thereafter is miles weaker than I could possibly have imagined.

Basically the Ewoks are rubbish. They really are a catastrophe. Them incapacitating Storm Troopers with what are essentially pebbles, dropped from a couple of metres, is a shocker. It's hard to take any of it seriously, even within it's own fantastical set of rules. The battle on Endor is weak and essentially the entire film is built around this set.

One thought I did have which followed through almost certainly by accident is the attempt by Sidious to turn Luke to the dark side. It was very easy in Revenge of the Sith for Anakin to be turned, he must have expected the same from Luke. That's the only explanation as to why he thought the 5 minute conversation they had would be enough for Luke to flip.

Not a good film. Jabba's palace is still banging though.

[DasNutNock2]

All the recent movies bar Rogue One and maybe Force Awakens have been pretty dire. Enjoyed Mandalorian though, even if it didn’t feel enormously Star Warsy.

Rewatched A New Hope the other day and was reminded just why it was so popular in the first place.

[DasNutNock2]

Return of the Jedi only really has 2 main set pieces - recovering Han from Jabba and the battle of Endor. Ignore the guff with ewoks and it’s a great movie. The battle of Endor, with its 3-fronts action (ground assault, space battle outside the Death Star and Luke Vs Vader Vs Palpatine) is the very best of the movie series. A fantastically orchestrated battle that represents the high watermark of the series.

[wolf359]

RotS has just dropped and be obtained from 'places'

[westham,eggyandchips]

Happy Star Wars day everyone.

[The Old Man of Storr]

Happy Star Wars day everyone.

Yeah , May The Fourth Be With You .


Aaaaarrgggghhhhhh , it's shyte when you get beaten to it .

[sendô]

Watched The Last Jedi again last night, somewhat open minded.

It's even worse than I remembered. Basically a crap reboot of The Empire Strikes Back, but nowhere, nowhere near as good.

I also watched Solo, which was a bit meh to be honest.

I still think Rogue One is the best of the Disney ones, even if only for this image at the end.

[alf git]

[westham,eggyandchips]

Aaaaarrgggghhhhhh , it's shyte when you get beaten to it .

Tell you what, you can have 'Revenge of the Fifth' tomorrow.

[prophet:marginal]

Here's a Rats Wars quiz from today's paper.

Not posting a score, personally; I know little and care less about the ludicrous franchise.

[Korea Hammer]

[WCpete]

I found this brief piece on how the Mandalorian uses LED lighting rather than green screens to film backgrounds interesting. This seems like a major game changer in film tech history.